US President Donald Trump set tongues wagging when he admitted he could potentially “consider” lifting sanctions on Russia if Moscow ever makes concessions and does something “good” for Washington on issues like Syria and Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have met outside Berlin for talks ranging from the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, to Iran and a gas pipeline project that has drawn US ire.

U.S. prosecutors on August 13 rested their case against President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort after 10 days of testimony alleging how he hid millions he earned for political consulting work in Ukraine to escape taxes.

Ukrainian intelligence officers detained two men that were collecting intelligence on the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Joint Forces Operation’s area on the demarcation line, reported Ukraine’s military Task Force Pivnich (North) on Facebook.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked with Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the phone about Ukraine and improving relations between Russia and the United States. It was reported by the press service of the US Department of State.

The SNP’s defence spokesman Stewart McDonald has called for greater engagement in Europe’s “forgotten war” in Ukraine – and warned his own party to be wary of the “dangerous instrument” of Russian propaganda.

Russian President Vladimir Putin drove a large construction truck Tuesday to road test the much-anticipated bridge linking southern Russia and the Crimean peninsula that Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Donald Trump’s ex-campaign chief Paul Manafort secretly paid a group of former senior European politicians more than two million euros ($2.5 million) to lobby for Ukraine’s then-leader backed by Russia, according to an indictment filed Friday.

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel proposed the EU to “encourage” Russia to implement Minsk agreements by gradually lifting sanctions after a long ceasefire in the East of Ukraine. He said this in his speech in the Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations in Berlin, DW reports.

Rex Tillerson defended U.S. foreign policy during his first year as secretary of state, touting gains in pressuring North Korea, battling Islamic State and supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

The U.S. will provide Ukraine with “enhanced defensive capabilities” to help build its military, the State Department said Friday. Kiev is battling Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country.